Carol Sanford’s invention didn’t equal Cal Jureit’s, but he made up for it with his head start and his aggressive marketing. Sanford had filed for his patent in March 1954, two years ahead of Jureit’s September 1956 filing, and had a plate design that was relatively...

Civil engineer Cal Jureit had moved on from wood structures to concrete foundations, but not completely. While he was engaged with the problem of building houses on Miami’s marshes near the Everglades, he had left the problem of wood connections unresolved. Perhaps his ongoing work on Dade...

A nearly perfect confluence of circumstances combined to create the truss plate in South Florida. The wartime home-building hiatus, the post-war baby boom, and the northward (from Cuba) and southward (snowbird) migration to Florida all combined to skyrocket the demand for new housing. But what...

MiTek, a building industry innovator and enabler, continues to uncover ways to improve efficiencies and transform the building industry with better building solutions. In its latest endeavor, MiTek has designed and built a custom piece of equipment to perform lateral-load testing on walls that...

Whether you’re designing and building a one- or two-story single-family residence, or doing the same for a multifamily, mid-rise wood-frame structure, fire and smoke protection features must be considered, and in most cases are required. When a fire starts, time is of the essence and the...

At Simpson Strong-Tie, we’re always seeking out new opportunities for innovation while helping customers find solutions to new challenges. In fact, “relentless customer focus” and “risk-taking innovation” are two of our nine company values. These two values recently...

According to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “The only constant in life is change.” When the latest Wood Construction Connectors catalog (C-C-2019) was published, my colleague, Paul McEntee, PE authored an excellent blog post to announce some big changes within the catalog. He...

CS16 coiled straps. I can’t tell you how many thousands (maybe more) I specified during my time as a consulting engineer. Straps are used everywhere. They were then, and are now, a go-to solution for drag and uplift loads. I didn’t have to look them up in the catalog — I knew...

The work the American Wood Council (AWC) carries out makes it easier for code officials, engineers, designers, and builders to ensure that wood products are used in accordance with the most up-to-date consensus-based building codes. Two AWC publications that support the code and design community...

In 2009, Simpson Strong-Tie participated in an unprecedented research event to highlight the importance of earthquake-resistant wood construction. The event, the world’s largest earthquake test, was a collaborative Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation project. It teamed...